Rebound
by Ryntaia
Summary: A new child arrives at the Shack one fine rainy day—Dipper isn't sure what to make of this odd, familiar feeling girl and her odd behavior. But either way, he has to ride out the consequences of his actions. Billdip technically. Updated with fixed scene breaks.
1. Rebound

Rebound

Rain pattered gently against the windows of the gift shop; each droplet slid quickly down the thin glass. A young girl sat at the clear wall with giggles emitting from her; one free finger ran down the window as she tried to follow each and every streak of water. She wasn't having much luck following the lines, since it was pouring so hard. Her other hand haphazardly placed tacky bobble-heads of Stan Pines on the rickety shelves of the Mystery Shack.

Dipper Pines sighed as he watched the young brunette girl next to him; sometimes it was hard to believe Mabel was related to him, much less his twin sister. Even moreso with how well they got along despite their constantly differing interests. He supposed that twelve years of sticking around each other would do that to anyone. Beyond that, it would be completely wrong to say they were totally different—they just happened to express their 'way' through different personalities. This was particularly evident as the brunette boy helped his twin stock the shop with one hand while flipping through his journal with the other.

Yes, for certain: both twins had an attention span that focused primarily on what _they_ wanted to do.

"Whoa-ho-ho!" Mabel giggled. Dipper looked up speculatively from an article on something called a Gremgoblin only to see piles of bobble-heads lying all around her feet. She bent over to pick up one of the bouncing dolls, maneuvering it across the wood floor and over the faded carpet in front of the register. Wendy looked up from her magazine for a minute or two, shrugged, then went back to her article with a small smile on her face.

"Mabel…" Dipper said, trying to sound exasperated and failing horribly. It was probably the smile he was biting his lip to keep off his face. He supposed it didn't really matter if she messed around a little today—the pouring rain was keeping all customers away from the Shack anyways. As if she read his mind, Mabel whipped around to look at him and then grinned widely.

"Dipper! I am Grunkle Stan!" She said as she tried her best to imitate their older relative. With her high pitched and youthful voice, it wasn't very efficient, but it gained an amused snort from the redhead behind the counter. Mabel switched her gaze from her brother to Wendy and back, then proceeded to make the bobble-head in her hand hobble towards Dipper.

"Oh geez…" He murmured. After finally speaking he could no longer keep his lips from curling upwards.

"Give me all your money, Dipper! Or else I'll…" Mabel paused for a moment to think. Then her face brightened. "…I'll make you watch ye olden time sappy movies with me!"

"No! Not the olden time sappy movies!" Dipper cried out, smacking his free hand over his eyes overdramatically. Mabel giggled shrilly. From her position at the cash register, Wendy had put her magazine down to watch the two kids with an amused smile painting her lips. "Anything but that! You've gone too far this time, Grunkle Stan."

"Of course I have, because in reality I am…" The brunette girl paused for effect. "…a nefarious DEMON occupying Grunkle Stan, here to take all your bobble-head dolls from the shop!"

"What kind of demon would want bobble-heads?" Wendy asked, tone still amused. Dipper had puffed up his cheeks in annoyance.

"What kind of demon WOULDN'T want bobble-heads?" Mabel retorted. Wendy rolled her eyes but fell into silence.

Dipper made to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of the front door slamming open. The sound of heavy rain hitting the welcome mat graced the ears of everyone in in the shop. Surprised, all three of them looked up from their silly fantasy game. The magazine dropped from Wendy's hand as she strode over to register quickly, rolling her eyes to look at the ceiling while tapping the keys in front of her in an attempt to look busy. The twins were not nearly as occupied (despite the piles of bobble-heads lying around them). Their eyes instead focused on the silhouette in the door as it slowly came into focus.

A young girl. No older than them.

She had blonde hair, so pale in color that it almost looked white upon first observation. The locks were cut off slightly below the equally pale ear. Said strands were cropped outwards and appeared to be heavily gelled; the tips were so loaded with product that they seemed to curl upwards. Below bangs that were cut in a sharp and straight manner were light brown eyes peering out at them in what almost seemed to be amusement—they were oddly captivating. Perhaps it was the pupils, Dipper figured—though round in shape, they carried an almost oval slant to them. It was almost slightly unnerving.

Her tiny body was covered in a bright yellow dress similar to the bizarre old movies that Grunkle Stan often occupied himself with—flaring outwards around the ankles with an extravagant white trim of lace. The upper part of the dress couldn't be seen at all, aside from the puffy and lace trimmed sleeves covering her arms. The rest was covered with a pitch black and surprisingly plain cloak that tied up right at her neck. The only distinctive trait of it was a series of triangles lining the bottom of the fabric.

And then the girl smiled.

There was something creepy about the smile, but Dipper couldn't put his finger on what. He felt like he should recognize _that smile_ but it was like a portion of his mind was being forcefully blocked out just by the blonde girl standing in front of him with a black umbrella slung over her left shoulder.

"Hello there…young man." She announced. Her voice was a high pitched, mocking squeak. A slight cackling laugh seemed to accompany every word she said. She definitely sounded feminine, but the girlishness also sounded slightly forced. Dipper wasn't sure what to make of it. "Is this the Mystery Shack?"

"…Who—" Dipper began, but Mabel immediately interrupted him.

"Well hidey-ho, fancy lady!" She said cheerfully, bounding forward to squish the newcomer's cheeks together. Dipper winced, knowing how much it could hurt when Mabel did that, but no anger came—the blonde girl's grin simply widened. "You have in fact found your dream destination! The Mystery Shack is here to serve all your mysterious needs!"

"Try to oversell it a little more there." Wendy commented.

"Alrighty!" The brunette girl replied, completely oblivious to the redhead's sarcasm. "Weeeeel~come to the MYYYYSTERIOUS Mystery Shaaaaack! If you seek the BEST of the best in the crazy lore of Gravity Falls then you, ma'am, have come to the right place! We know it all, we've seen it all! And we can share it all with YOU!"

"You asked, she delivered." Dipper shrugged, turning to the cashier. He knew Mabel could get pretty over the top when she was bored, and he had to admit that stacking dolls of their Grunkle was a pretty boring job. Especially when there was no one in the Shack.

"You can share it with me, huh?" The girl's replied. Dipper turned back to stare at his sister and the odd girl at the door—she had closed the umbrella and was now using it as some sort of cane. "Then I really HAVE come to the right place, haven't I?"

_Why does this all seem so familiar?_ Dipper thought desperately. _It's like there's a part of my brain that I can't access at all! _

"I am Wilma." The blonde said smoothly. "I have come seeking…ah, what was it again…ha, right. Adventure and mystery. All the adventure and mystery you can find."

"Tour of the museum is ten bucks." Wendy drawled immediately. Then she checked a piece of paper in front of her. "Twenty on rainy days."

"Ya got a library as part of your museum tour?" Wilma hunched over and imitated Wendy's drawl, the slick and taunting grin still painting her features. But she immediately caught sight of the redhead's blank and annoyed stare and laughed loudly. "Calm down there…! I'm just messing with you."

"Look, I don't think—" Dipper began but Wilma was in front of him immediately, tapping the tip of her umbrella against the boy's round nose. It was almost mocking, in a way.

"I'm not here to ask much, P…young man." She said, slamming her umbrella tip down on the ground in front of her and painting her face with a mournful expression. "I just want to stick around for a little while."

"Grunkle Stan's out, isn't he?" Mabel questioned. "He went to go get something from the convenience store."

"Oh, right…we don't give tours while Stan is gone. Sorry, kid." Wendy shrugged and returned to her magazine. Dipper shot a triumphant look at the blonde customer—he didn't know what she was but he didn't want her in the Shack, either. Something about her seemed incredibly off. He didn't know what. Maybe she was a witch or something…though he couldn't recall if witches were in the journal.

"Ha! Oh, what a shame." Wilma shook her head mournfully, and then brightened up considerably. "If that's the case, I'll just have to come back tomorrow! Don'tcha think?"

"No!" Dipper cried out immediately. Both Mabel and Wilma shot looks at him—one confused, another slightly smug. "I…I mean…the Mystery Shack is closed tomorrow! You can't come here tomorrow. Gee, what a shame, right?"

"What're you talking about, Dipper, the Shack isn—" Mabel began, but was cut off by her brother slapping a hand across her mouth. She mumbled incoherently through it but it was no use.

"Well then. I'll just have to come back….sometime soon, then?" Wilma said. She seemed surprisingly patient considering the odd, childish titters that lined her speech. "I suppose I'll see you soon, then."

She was not a girl untrue to her word.

And she certainly didn't believe in Dipper's half-assed lie, either. Wilma had turned up on the front porch the very next day and strode in with a certain air of determination about her. Dipper and Mabel watched her from one of the aisles, almost hiding behind a stack of 'dictionaries of the unknown'. One of Dipper's hands restrained his energetic sister from rushing out to greet the odd customer. It seemed, however, that Wilma was having none of that nonsense—in mere seconds the girl stood in front of the dictionaries with a cocky grin.

With that, she kicked the dictionaries over. Dipper gasped audibly as they tumbled to the ground in front of both twins; Mabel just groaned quietly, as if she had lost her game of hide and seek to the blonde. Wilma smiled, what Dipper assumed had been intended as a pleasant smile. It just ended up coming off as mildly disturbing. The smile seemed to display almost all her teeth behind the rose painted lips.

"Hello again. Now who would figure that you two would be messing around this neighborhood?" She laughed loudly and offered Dipper a hand up; he hesitantly accepted it and let the girl pull him up. "Hey now, don't look TOO unhappy to see me there, uh, buddy!"

"It's Dipper." He said in an irritated tone. Mabel stumbled to her feet with a wide grin. She seemed to be content with the fact that Wilma was focusing all of her free attention on her brother. "Dipper Pines."

"Guess I just didn't catch it last time, huh, Dipper Pines?" Wilma replied teasingly. "So look, I see old man Stan is still here today!" She gestured with her free hand at Grunkle Stan, spinning her wrist a slight bit at the man trying to sell some useless junk to a group of tourists. "I guess that means my tour is available now, riiiight?"

"Well, I mean, I…"

"Hey! Hey. What's goin' on here?" Dipper jumped slightly at the sound of his Grunkle's _very close_ voice—turning his head slightly he realized with an open mouth that the old man must have finished up with the tourists, because he was now looming over all three of them with fists on his hips. A cocky, almost amused smirk crossed his face. "You tryin' to win over some girls there, kid?"

"W-WHAT?! No!" Dipper shrieked, almost embarrassed at the high pitch his voice managed to reach.

"Oh right, my bad. GIRL." Stan waved his hand dismissively. "Probably shouldn't assume you have the audacity to go for more than one at a time anyways."

"Hey!"

"Are you the owner of this Shack?" Wilma asked innocently, crossing her hands in front of her yellow dress and kicking one foot out to the side. Stan raised an eyebrow at the girl and kneeled down next to her. His eyes narrowed slightly. Then, to the surprise of the twins, the old scamster proceeded to poke the young girl in the head—Wilma only emitted a sharp and forced laugh. "Don't be SILLY, now! All I want is a tour of the stuff that this old place has to offer! You shouldn't be mean to little girls, you know."

Stan was quiet for a moment, then he rose to his feet and shrugged. "Ten dollars, kid. Pay up or get out."

Wilma's eyes almost seemed to glow for a second, a bright and distracting yellow color, as her grip on Dipper's hand tightened to almost painful levels. But her grin didn't disappear for even a second as she reached behind her back and pulled a ten dollar bill out of seemingly nowhere. More and more, Dipper was starting to believe that this weird kid was some sort of a witch—he considered analyzing that bill later if he could get it away from Stan (which was unlikely), but was interrupted by the blonde girl's request cutting through his thoughts.

"I want THESE TWO to give me the tour, old buddy!" She laughed loudly at the incredulous look on their faces (minus Mabel, who looked very amused by the prospect). Stan stared at the blonde for a second, then at the twins, then back to the blonde. Wilma was tapping her feet impatiently.

"Less work for me, I guess." Stan finally said. Then he turned to look at a young woman pawing through one of the shelves absentmindedly. "HEY! Lady! Would you be interested in a BOX OF MYSTERY? You could end up finding anything you want in there—even your dream come true!"

Wilma wasted no time, not even for the perplexed glance that most customers sent towards the trickster old man. She simply rushed off towards the back of the store to push through the curtains of the museum. Dipper rubbed absentmindedly at his now empty hand—weird probable witch girl or not, she certainly had soft gloves. It was really strange to him that such an odd, obviously off kilter girl would have such nice possessions. His train of thought, however, was interrupted by Mabel giggling loudly next to him.

"What?" Dipper demanded.

"You're thinking of gi~rls!" She proclaimed in a sing-song voice. Quickly she changed to imitating Dipper. "Oh man she's got soft hands! W-wow, maybe she can help me solve a mystery so we can have some time together! Oh but I'd just mess it up, oh man, I bet something would ea—"

"Mabel, are you even hearing yourself?!" Dipper snapped. "That girl is weird. I sure as heck don't LIKE her. She's giving me some freaky, weird feelings like…I dunno, like she's gonna try and pull something weird! Or try and kill us. I don't know. There's just something really wrong with that girl."

"Oh man, I-I feel so weird around her! She's gotta be some sort of crazy mythological monster! It's not that I'm just a pervert and I can't admit when I feel crushes on girls!" Mabel mocked, hobbling around the room awkwardly. Dipper frowned. "Ohhh, she's so pretty and determined and—"

"I don't even know why I ask you anything."

"Because as you know, Mabel knows the answer to everything." His twin sister replied with complete confidence. He rolled his eyes. "Besides, what's wrong with Wilma?"

"…I just told you exactly what's wrong with her. She seems…familiar somehow." Dipper cringed. "Everything about her comes off as something I've seen before. Her smile, her eyes, even the way she holds that dumb umbrella…ugh, it just creeps me out."

"Creeps you out or makes you love her moooore?" Mabel chirped. Dipper rolled his eyes again—there was just some stuff that wasn't worth talking to his sister about. Apparently this was destined to be one of them. He filed it in the back of his mind to never talk about his suspicions if they involved a girl. "Oh her eyes! Oh her smile! Oh, our destiny from way back when that I can't quite remember!"

"Oh, just knock it off, Mabel."

"Never!" She said with a wide grin. Dipper could see she meant to continue, but Wilma stuck her head out of the museum doors with a wide grin. "She's just a normal girl. Geez, Dipper. Don't be so paranoid."

"Hey! Hurry up there, kiddos! We've got some stupid fake exhibits to go through!" She laughed at some inner joke and gestured them forward towards the door—both twins quickly scurried over to her side. Wilma chuckled and grabbed Dipper's hand, dragging him in. Looking back he realized that Mabel had stayed back outside. He grimaced. Great, just what he needed. Mabel forming some dumb ploy.

"Uh, hmm. Well…" Dipper turned around to face the slightly darkened museum—a few feet away from him stood Wilma, umbrella tapping impatiently against the wood floor. One of her legs hung loosely in the air and her wide eyes drilled right into him. "UH, o-okay. Time for a tour, right?"

"The little girlie isn't coming along?" Wilma asked. Dipper didn't like the tone in her voice; she sounded like she already knew the answer to her own question.

"Uh, no. I guess not. I can give you the tour myself, though…"

Wilma grin waned into something slightly different—not quite as smug. More…content. Long lashes curled over lidded eyes as she gazed down the hallway. With such an expression, Dipper could almost accept her as a normal child—just one who was a little bizarre in the way she acted. But he quickly shook the thought off. This was _Gravity Falls, Oregon_ for God's sake. He couldn't just ignore the oddities of a person because they looked trustworthy for a minute or two.

So he figured, anyways.

"Let's go down the path, shall we."

And the soft, momentarily quiet voice free of laughter and deception fooled him into complacency. The looks she cast onto the fake exhibits, with a glimmer of amusement. How the strange blonde stuck out her arms, bent downwards at the elbow, and sauntered back and forth as she mocked the Cornacorn. Suddenly the cackle of laughter that had disturbing him previously…

…well, it wasn't so bad anymore.

_Maybe Mabel was right._

From there on out Wilma visited often. Dipper didn't know why—she had already seen the exhibit and she didn't seem interested in buying anything from the gift shop. Instead she would amuse herself with the twins. Wilma would sit in the corner with Mabel, playing with silly modified dolls, throwing them stiffly over her shoulder with a sharp cackle in the heat of any 'scene' that they had decided to act out. The blonde girl would sit with Dipper in between the aisles flipping through Grunkle Stan's pamphlets of the unknown, laughing maniacally with him over the exaggerated things that the old man had decided to trick tourists with.

"Ha ha, oh man, can you believe this? He put down places you can sight that dumb unicorn of corn." Dipper wiped a tear from his face as tried to recover from his hysterical laughter.

"It's pretty off the charts, little _buddy_." Wilma grinned, flipping through the pamphlet absentmindedly. Occasionally she would stop on a specific entry and run her fingers across it as she whispered quietly to herself. Currently she was going over some entry on fairies. The brunette boy watched her for a moment then coughed awkwardly—Wilma looked up with wide eyes on a waning grin.

"You, uh, you're pretty into those." Dipper commented.

"Of course I am." She said brightly. "It's a hobby of mine."

"Hobby?"

"Yes. Hobby. I have two major hobbies, my precious little friend." Wilma snickered, as if laughing at her own joke. Dipper cocked his head to the side. He couldn't figure out what she thought was so funny, but even moreso he hadn't even begun to consider that Wilma would have hobbies. Mentally he berated himself for that train of thought—of course she had hobbies.

"So, uh, what are your hobbies?" Dipper asked nervously. He was slowly beginning to feel more and more like a fool around this girl.

"My hobbies are the supernatural." She paused for a moment. "…and reading. I LOVE to read!"

"What, really? Me too!" Dipper defied his own better judgment and jumped to his feet. It just caused the grin on Wilma's face to widen—somehow the brunette was slowly beginning to learn how to ignore how weird her face could look at times. It was becoming less creepy and more…he couldn't describe it. Charming, maybe. Like a unique quirk. "Like…I read this series of books about some brothers who solve weird mysteries, and some about a monster in a hidden forest, and the Jou…"

Dipper paused.

He couldn't believe himself—had he really been about to mention the Journal to this person who he had just met? He barely knew a thing about her. Hell, she had freaked him out thoroughly when she had first walked through the door of the Mystery Shack. She STILL kind of freaked him out from time to time. Why in the world would he even BEGIN to slip at revealing his greatest secret, privy only to him and his closest friends, to this strange smirking blonde girl?

_Maybe because she shares your hobbies. _

_Maybe because you're always so paranoid and now you're second guessing yourself._

_ Maybe because you don't really have many friends your age. _

_ Maybe because she's an oddity but…she's kinda cool and kinda pretty._

"Oh no." Dipper muttered to himself. "Not again."

Wilma simply flipped through a different pamphlet.

()()()()()()()()()

Up in his room Dipper flipped through the Journal at an astonishing speed. Across from him, Mabel lay snoring loudly. He didn't blame her. It was almost midnight and he had been flipping through his special book for hours at this point. Mabel hadn't been particularly interested in his paranoia to begin with; she had only giggled slightly and commented that he was growing obsessed with the new arrival in his life. Her twin scowled at the thought; he was not!

He was just being…cautious, that's all.

It was not in his favor, though. There wasn't a single page in the Journal that said anything about odd looking little girls that reminded you of someone that you couldn't remember, no sirree. Not even pages about little girl witches who cast weird spells on you or anything. There were pages on gnomes, and candy monsters, and even pages on some weird fat cheeked leprechaun pony thing that made Dipper raise his eyebrow a little…but nothing like Wilma.

Dipper sighed.

Mabel WAS right.

He had overreacted. Wilma was just an ordinary girl who happened to act a little quirky. Dipper almost felt a little bad; the poor girl couldn't help how she acted, it was just her personality. She was just _like that_. And it sure as hell wasn't her fault that she reminded him of someone or something who tickled obnoxiously at the back of his memory.

Dipper groaned and fell back on his bed. He kinda felt like a jerk now—just because some things in Gravity Falls were monstrous and dangerous didn't mean EVERYTHING that showed up was a threat. He had deducted that within the first day of living in the town. Yet he had forgotten his very own discovery almost the second that the blonde newcomer had walked cheerfully through the door.

He turned over to stare at the wall.

"I was right, wasn't I?"

Dipper nearly fell off the bed at the sound of his sister's voice. She laughed quietly, lying on her own side with a chubby cheeked smile spreading across her face. "Mabel! I-I thought you fell asleep like…two hours ago! What gives?! You nearly scared me half to death!"

"I was right, wasn't I?" She repeated. Mabel wasn't about to apologize for her brother's twitchy nature.

"I…maybe."

"Oh, Dipper…" She swung her skinny legs over the side of the bed and sat up with a pitying look on her face. "You try to make excuses too much, you know that? Sometimes things just ARE, you know?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Mabel."

"Oh, come ON, Dipper!" Mabel sighed exasperatedly as she kicked her feet back and forth. "I mean, you said she gave you a weird FEEL when she came into the Shack. Then you're hanging out with her, and you mention her smile and her eyes? Come onnnnn. All that's happening…is that you're translating your own feelings in a wrong way because you're so freakishly paranoid."

"But she DID give me a weird feeling! Like, a bad kind!" Dipper argued desperately.

"I didn't feel anything. Wendy didn't feel anything." Mabel shrugged. "It's just you, bro!"

"But I can't just trust her…"

"You didn't need a reason to trust Wendy." Mabel said seriously. Dipper flushed—it wasn't like his twin was wrong in that regard. "And you don't need a reason to trust Wilma, either. She's our friend now! She's always indulging us and playing with us! She's a good friend…and one who is our age for once. That's pretty nice, Dipper."

"But—"

"No buts, Dipper." Mabel stopped for a moment, snickered childishly, then continued. "You felt something when she came into the Mystery Shack. Being here in this town so long…maybe you just interpreted it as her being something to fear instead of being something to loooo~ve."

Dipper glared at his sister—her singsong mocking was starting to get annoying. Now wasn't the time to scold her over it, though (it wasn't like she would listen to him anyways), so he settled into his thoughts. Then finally, after a few minutes, he spoke in a quiet tone. A voice that sounded almost more scared than reassured. "Mabel…the feeling I got from Wilma is a lot different from the one I got from Wendy. I don't get it. How can it be the same thing if…well. You know?"

"Because." Mabel said simply. "Wilma isn't Wendy."

With that, the brunette girl tossed herself back against her pillow and feigned sleep. Dipper knitted his eyebrows; Mabel's words just didn't seem like enough information but he figured he'd have to make do with it. His face hit the pillow in an aggravated frustration as he tried to work it all out. Being twelve and trying to figure out feelings was no particularly easy task. Especially when the only prior example for said feelings had been based entirely on the coolness factor of the girl.

"Maybe this IS just a different way." He mumbled to himself, still fully confused. "Maybe I'm just trying to fool myself into believing that something bad is going to happen…"

_So you don't have to accept that something good might happen._

_ But nothing good ever happens, now does it, Dipper Pines?_

_ Maybe this isn't a threat. _

_ She's not in the Journal. _

_ She's a normal but kind of weird girl. She smiles really big. She likes what you like. Maybe she could be a good ally. _

_Maybe you should just give in—it might be what Mabel says it is, after all. _

_ You fell for Wendy awfully fast, after all. Maybe it's just as quick for Wilma._

Dipper buried his face in his pillow. His mind went three hundred miles per hour with these difficult thoughts. These thoughts that he could hardly deny, after all. It felt like hours of such raging internal battle that he finally clenched his hands into fists and banged them against the soft mattress.

He was done with this indecisiveness.

He picked up the Journal and tucked it into his chest, drifting off into an uneasy sleep as he tried to prepare himself for the next day.

"A Journal?"

Wilma sounded amused, almost triumphant, as Dipper held out the battered old book to her. She didn't take it at first—she simply held her umbrella behind her back as she observed the Journal with half lidded eyes. He was surprised at how unfazed she seemed to be about his prize possession, so he flipped it open to show her a page within—the Undead. Her grin merely widened.

"That's fascinating, friend!" She chortled. "Truly fascinating."

She seemed _too_ unfazed for Dipper's comfort, but he continued on anyways.

"Wilma, I've been going around Gravity Falls for a while now." Dipper explained. Wilma simply nodded patiently. "I've been encountering a lot of the crazy stuff that's in this Journal…all of it is completely real, I'm telling you. There's some secret behind this journal, and behind this PLACE, and everything in this SHOULD lead up to the answer!"

"You think so?"

"Do…do you not believe me?" Dipper said, face flushing in adamant embarrassment. Wilma laughed loudly, then waved a hand dismissively.

"I believe you, little one!" She said. "I just want to know what you intend to do with such information! It's so…severe!"

"Well, I…I'm gonna find out what the answer behind Gravity Falls' secret really is." Dipper said confidently; he noted with humiliation that the flush on his cheeks had yet to fade. "Mabel and Wendy and Grunkle Stan and Soos…we've all been working together to try and crack the code. And I think we're close, too! Y-you, uh, you could always, uh…ha ha, well, I mean…"

"I could always help?" Wilma cackled. "Oh, how quaint! Why would I not want to HELP? Other than a few billion reasons, but why regard those? You really are pretty out there. I like ya, you know that?"

Her voice seemed to be changing—losing the pitch of femininity.

White gloved hands wrapped around the side of the book and pulled it out of his arms, holding the volume up to flip through it with semi-interested eyes. Then she looked up to Dipper's confused face and chuckled slightly. "You know, I do love a good sucker! But you know what the best is? Someone who is too smart for their own good just handing me what I need. Don't you agree with me…Pine Tree?"

Dipper realized far too late what was happening.

The room grayed out, an eerie sight of mind and memory, as the girl in front of him collapsed to the floor and disappeared. Dipper made to grab the Journal out of Wilma's hands, but it was too late—they had already been plucked out of her grasp by long and think black arms. Dipper collapsed next to the unconscious gray colored body and looked up spitefully, banging one fist against the floor in anger and frustration. His tantrum was answered only by a cackling laugh.

A mocking, cackling laugh from a floating triangle with a top hat and a bow.

"Bill!" Dipper hissed. "You…her…Wilma…what…"

"RELAX, Pine Tree!" Bill Cipher cackled loudly; the mocking sound echoed across the room loudly. His thin stick-hands held the Journal near the ceiling. Well out of Dipper's reach, they both knew.

"RELAX?" Dipper snapped. "You pretended to be a girl just to get the Journal?! What kind of—"

"Pretend ain't the right word, kid!" Bill interrupted. "Nah, that was Sally Poole from…oh, I am so bad with the names of places outside here! Nevada, I think? She's REAL, alright!"

"You dragged a twelve year old all the way from Nevada for this?!"

Bill shrugged. "Sure, why not? I have my goals, she has hers. All I had to do was appear before her and ask if she wanted to make a deal. Boy, I tell you, kids your age are some of the stupidest you'll find! But I'll give you credit, Pine Tree, you were smart enough to see through my cloaking."

"Cloaking?"

"Of course! Remember when I possessed you? Ohhh, you do!" Bill chuckled at Dipper's evident scowl. "No one noticed until they were told, right? It's not like everyone around you is absentminded and stupid, nah. Bodies emit a certain aura when they're possessed! But you, you saw through it for a while, didn't you? I'm impressed, kid. I'm really impressed."

"I don't need to know I impressed YOU!" Dipper snapped, patting his cheeks lightly to get rid of the flush on them. "Give me back the journal and give back Wilma!"

"Man, kid, you're losing your credibility as a smart one! I told you, her name is Sally Poole." Bill laughed for a moment then cut off quickly, an amused expression crossing over what passed for his face. "Or maybe that's not it, is it? Oh man, kid, don't tell me you're that dumb."

"W-what?"

"Ahahaha! Oh man, kid, you ARE that dumb! You LIKED this Wilma I created." Bill cackled. "You liked me in a human girl body! Oh, Pine Tree, you are one pathetic piece of work, I gotta say."

"Shut up! Just shut up, okay?!"

"Ooh, Pine Tree, I sure love the supernatural and I love books too! Let's hang out and be cool boyfriend and girlfriend!" Bill ignored Dipper's screams of protest, instead raising his voice to Wilma's pitch. "We can do all sorts of fun things! Why, I bet we could even solve the mystery of Gravity Falls together. Oh wait, no we can't, because we don't have the book anymore!"

"W-what…?"

To Dipper's horror, the Journal in Bill's hand exploded in a storm of blue fire. Below the triangle, tiny droplets of black ash piled up. The brunette boy rushed forward to run his hands through what had once been one of his most precious possessions. His entire body went limp as he stared blankly at the destroyed Journal. Above him, the dream demon was laughing obnoxiously. One expanded arm swung around Dipper's waist and lifted him up to Bill's eye level. A cane poked the young brunette boy against the cheek.

"It was so nice doing business with you, Pine Tree." Bill commented. "As well as to come out on top this time. See you in your dreams, kid…heh…just know I love you, Pine Tree. I love you the most."

The worst part was, with the calm and serious tone taken, Dipper didn't know what to make of the final partings words.

Next he knew, he was coughing loudly on top of another body. The girl under him—Wilma? No, Sally…was pushing at him determinedly. He slid off the unfamiliar girl's form and bowed his head in apology as he rubbed his arm. Peering up he could only see her rolling her tired eyes and crossing her arms. After flipping her hair a bit, of course. Dipper looked to the side nervously.

"Sally…Poole?"

"Uh, yeah. That's me." She said in annoyance. "So like…where the hell am I, anyways?"

"G-Gravity Falls. Oregon."

"What the heck am I doing in this kind of dump?! And why am I wearing this ugly old dress?! God!" Sally shrieked loud enough to break glass. Dipper cringed. "Take me home RIGHT NOW, you weirdo! Or I'm gonna call the cops on you!"

"Can you answer one question for me first?" Dipper asked quietly. The girl rolled her eyes in irritation but nodded. "…what are your hobbies? I mean, what do you like to do for fun?"

"Uhhh…that's a really creepy question?" She raised an eyebrow. "But I like watching TV…keeping up with celebrity gossip, you know? And the fashions that I should be wearing. That's another hobby of mine, you know? Shopping. So I gotta keep up with the right fa—"

"I get it." Dipper sighed. "I get it."

_Wilma doesn't exist. _

_ Only Bill Cipher. Always Bill Cipher._

_ "I love you the most, Pine Tree."_


	2. Recoil

Recoil

Grunkle Stan wiped his hands off as he shook his head in irritation. Occasionally he sent an inspecting look back at the two twelve-year olds seated by the window; it wasn't a pretty sight, to say the least. Mabel was absentmindedly twirling her long locks of curly brown hair between her fingers while one of her girly magazines rested, unread, on her lap. The girl was much more focused on staring with a sorrowful—almost PITYING—expression at her twin brother next to her.

Dipper Pines was almost impossible to look at.

The boy hadn't bother to talk to his elder relative about whatever it was that happened, but the old man could easily tell that something had definitely gone wrong. Maybe it was with that weird girl who had been hanging around so much lately—Grunkle Stan made a face. He had definitely not appreciated when the cops had shown up at the Mystery Shack asking about disappeared little girl. It had taken his best lies to chase them and the (suddenly incredibly unpleasant) little girl off his porch without ending up with a search warrant. Truly the last thing he needed at the time…

That wasn't the issue right now, though. That had all blown over fairly quickly. It wasn't like the town didn't regularly think the Mystery Shack was a shady joint ANYWAYS. No, the important issue right now was his sulking relative—and man, was Dipper sulking. He'd seen the kid sulk plenty of times before (the boy twin simply wasn't as mindlessly cheerful as the girl twin) but Dipper seemed damn near seething with anger at this point. Like someone had spat in his dinner or something, or like he had gotten dumped by a girl or something.

Stan snorted knowingly. He seemed to remember picking fun at the kid about the girl who had gotten dragged back to Nevada. So Dipper was irritated about THAT. The old man shook his head and returned to leading the tour—it was just a stupid childhood crush. It wasn't like the kid wasn't capable of getting over something like that. After all, he had to get over his crush before that.

So he left the kids to their own devices, letting them stare out the window together in hushed and awkward silence.

Mabel picked at her painted fingernails, occasionally glancing up from the shimmering pink bone to look at her twin. The brunette boy just stared listlessly out at the still rainy landscape with his hand on his cheek—for some reason, Mabel's old game of following the raindrops with her fingers didn't seem so fun anymore. And to think that usually, bright painted nails would make it even MORE fun. Now, however, she just found the joy clouded out by that endless feeling of worry for her twin brother.

He had explained the issue of Wilma and Bill to her shortly after Sally Poole had left.

She didn't believe her brother at first. At first, Mabel had been convinced that her brother was making up an excuse to NOT have a crush on Wilma. Then Sally Poole had stomped over to the twins with a merciless expression and a cruel attitude—she reminded the perky girl a bit of Pacifica before they had established their shaky friendship. Nothing like the bizarre, book obsessed preteen that had walked through the door of the Mystery Shack and sought out the attention of the twins. If anything this 'Sally Poole' wanted nothing to do with either of them. Not that Mabel could BLAME the girl since she had basically been dragged across a state by a demon.

All to get at the twins.

Mabel almost shivered. No…not all to get at the twins…all to get at Dipper. Her dark eyes focused back on her twin—the boy hadn't been too specific about what Bill had said to him about the whole fiasco but at this point she was figuring it was pretty bad. And as perky and upbeat she tended to be, she didn't want to see Dipper like this. She NEVER wanted to see Dipper like this. The boy was her twin brother, for crying out loud—in a way, what hurt him…well, it hurt her too. Even if it didn't hurt as hard.

She pursed her lips. No, she couldn't allow this to go on. The brunette girl looked down at the magazine in her hands, dark brown eyes scanning the articles on the cover—finally she stopped on one with a smile on her chubby cheeked face. Hands flipped the newsprint booklet open and, with a broad smile that displayed her shining braces, she shoved the glossy article in Dipper's direction. Her smile faded slightly when her brother didn't even turn towards her. Mabel Pines hadn't ever been one to give up, though.

"Dipper! Look, look!" She said ecstatically. Her twin finally looked up at her with lidded, almost irritated eyes. One hand was still rested firmly against his cheek. "Teen Vague has a neat article here this month! _Your Always Helpful, Never Useless Guide to Getting Over a Crush_! It's a neat article, don'tcha think?" Dipper didn't respond, so Mabel raised the magazine to her own face. "Step one, let it out and let it go! Step two, out of sight and out of mind! Step three, learn a little! Step four, hey! You're great!"

"Mabel…"

"Being obsessed is no good! Better to let it go instead of dwelling on it." Mabel chipped. "If it's really bothering you then talk about it. It WILL make you feel better, and it'll help you get over the affection you feel for that person—"

"Mabel, STOP." Dipper groaned, placing both hands on his face and drawing his knees up to his chest. She looked up from the article with concern painted all over her expression. "You don't get it, Mabel. I…I really appreciate your concern but you don't get it. This isn't ABOUT getting over a crush or some teenager magazine junk like that."

"Well…" Mabel paused hesitantly. "…then tell me what it IS about so I can help."

Dipper glanced at his sister for a moment then sighed deeply. "I…It's about what all HAPPENED. That I met a person, and yeah, I liked that person…but that person wasn't REAL. No. Worse than that. Not only was she not real, she was Bill Cipher. And I fell for it, Mabel. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker and just ran around like Bill's little puppet until he got tired of it and burned the Journal."

"Dipper, you're smart. You can survive without the Journal." Mabel said quietly. "It'll be harder, but we can do it."

"Maybe…maybe so." Dipper smiled weakly. It was nice to see that his sister had so much faith in him. Then his smile faded away. "…But that doesn't change that I fell for his trick like a little baby. Wilma was..."

He went silent. Mabel sighed.

"Oh Dippingsauce…" She tapped her painted nails thoughtfully against the wood of the windowsill. Then she slammed her hand down so hard that it shocked Dipper away from the glass a bit; he stared at her with incredulous eyes. She just winked cheerfully. "I got it! How 'bout this, brobro? How 'bout instead of sulkin' around about some weeeeeirdo girl who ain't good enough for a PINES TWIN anyways, how about we go out and find you a real girl who IS good enough? A real Wilma!"

"A real…Mabel, I dunno." Dipper replied, rubbing his arm nervously. Mabel shook her head—the massive shining smile had returned in spades. Judging by her attitude at the moment, the brunette twin was pretty sure he wasn't getting out of this one.

_"I love you the most, Pine Tree."_

Dipper snapped to immediate attention with wide eyes looking at the room almost fretfully. His sister watched him in unmasked confusion, lips slightly pursed as she assumed he was simply trying to act weird to get out of her plan. He looked up at her nervously; he wasn't exactly sure how she would take her brother stating that he had just heard a voice that she could not. Much less when that voice was the voice of Bill Cipher. Hell, HE didn't even know how to take that he was hearing the voice of Bill Cipher.

So, stubbornly, the boy decided he was just deluding himself.

He just…didn't want to deal with it right at the moment.

"Dipper?"

"Huh? Oh. Uh, sorry, Mabel. I wasn't paying attention." Dipper replied, attempting to take on a joking tone. His twin simply crossed her arms and stared at him curiously, but after a few moments she finally let it go and grabbed the boy's wrist and dragged him out into the center of the gift shop. "Mabel, hey, don't hold on so tigh—"

"Whoo, lots of lovely ladies today!" Mabel commented brightly as she ignored her twin brother. Dipper simply sighed loudly, though he was well aware it wasn't about to get him out of his sister's attempts at some 'fantasy romance' that had crossed over her mind as a solution to Dipper's current problems. He supposed at this point the best thing to do would to just ride it out until Mabel got tired of her efforts.

_"I love you the most, Pine Tree. Don't forget that."_

Dipper's head shot up again as he glanced nervously around the room in search of the owner of the voice—unfortunately, in Mabel's eyesight, his glance apparently landed on a blonde girl in the corner with her mother. Short trimmed hair tied in pigtails, thin rimmed glasses, and a long blue dress that matched bright blue eyes. She was flipping through some pamphlets on the supposed 'local wildlife'. The standard nonsense on rabbits with snake bodies and three headed cats, but it was something to fill the shelves with and the customers seemed at least a little intrigued by it.

"Her?" Mabel shook Dipper back and forth by the shoulder, the expression on her face clearly saying that she was not about to take no for an answer where this was concerned. Not that Dipper wasn't USED to dealing with that from his sister. "Well come on! Let's go take a closer look, hmmmm?"

The tired, aggravated brunette boy didn't really like how she said that but he obliged her anyways. Mabel dragged her sibling over to the pigtailed girl, who looked up curiously (though with a slight smile) at the twins through her glasses—the frames seem much larger up close but Dipper supposed she was okay to look at. Not that looks were really his biggest concern…no, he was more concerned that she wasn't as dumb as a stump and ignorant enough to ignore the surreal happenings around her.

"Uh, hello?" She greeted in a quiet tone.

"Hello there!" Mabel replied perkily, pushing her brother in front of her. Dipper gave the girl a nervous, uncomfortable smile. "We work here at the Mystery Shack and we're interested in YOU! What's your name?"

"Way to be subtle." Dipper muttered under his breath. Mabel shrugged, no apparent care in her eyes. To Dipper's surprise the pigtailed girl just sent a warm grin in their direction, putting her pamphlet back and turning towards them with her hands placed behind her back.

"Hi there! Who are you two?"

"Uh…." Dipper stumbled on his words a bit. If anything, he thought bitterly, he was successfully feeling like a complete dolt. "Uh, well, I'm Dipper. Dipper Pines. And, uh, this is my siste—"

"I'm Mabel Pines, the one and ONLY Mabel Pines!" The girl interrupted her brother quickly as she posed dramatically in front of him. Dipper snorted; so much for this being about introducing him to some 'new girl' besides Wilma. Not that he particularly regretted Mabel's forward behavior. It kept him from, once again, getting dragged into her Teen Vague nonsense when she tried to make a new friend.

"Why, Miss Mabel, you have such a pretty sweater." The pigtailed girl smiled softly. Mabel clapped her hands in glee. Dipper, on the other hand, was really quite thrown off by how quiet she spoke. It was almost a bit difficult to hear some of her words. "I…I suppose it would be rude to let you two introduce yourself…and then just stand here quietly myself."

"Oh, my brother is DYING to know your name." Mabel snickered. Dipper cast an annoyed glance at her but she paid no mind. The blonde in front of them simply placed her tiny hand over her mouth, seemingly to cover an amused chuckle.

Dipper had to admit. She was kinda cute.

_"I love you the most, Pine Tree."_

The brunette boy immediately bit his lip—there it was again, the echoing voice that bounced incessantly around his skull as if mocking him. That sound high pitched tone that seemed to carry a haughty laugh in every single word, yet seemed to be filled with harsh and painful truth. That same voice that had harshly teased him as one of his most prized possessions erupted into burning flames.

Dipper bit down harder on his lip.

"My name is Willow Braun." Dipper's attention was drawn away from his thoughts of the echoing voice when he realized the pigtailed girl was looking straight at him. Her face was blessed with a wide and friendly smile—it was just as pleasant to see as the curious look on her face when they approached her. "It's so nice to meet you both. Uhm…"

"Question?" Mabel interrupted, fingers laced underneath her chin. Willow blinked and her smile faded for a moment, but it quickly returned to her features.

"Well, you both said…uh, Pines, was it?" Willow placed a finger on her chin contemplatively. Mabel nodded. "Ah, yes. Are you two related? You definitely share a family resemblance…"

"Yep!" Mabel wound her arm around Dipper's shoulder and dragged him towards her, patting him the arm. "We're twins! The Pines twins, the Mystery Twins!"

"Mystery Twins? That's so cute…" Willow giggled. Dipper raised an eyebrow; he wasn't quite sure how to take that. It could easily mean a lot of things. "I remember when I was in school, we had a supernatural club for a while…but it got closed because there weren't enough members. It was such a shame! Not being able to go to the club anymore was the saddest thing that ever happened…"

"You were one of the members?" Dipper asked. Willow reddened a bit.

"Oh! W-well, yes…no one IMPORTANT in the club, b-but always a member." She stuttered nervously as one hand played awkwardly with her left pigtail. "I-it's just a little hobby of mine, that's all. That's why my mom agreed to take us here for a visit this summer…b-because we'd talked about it a lot in the supernatural club."

Mabel waggled her eyebrows at her brother with a large grin plastered across her face; he himself just stared at the girl in awe. It was surprising to find someone so quickly that was so interested in the odd happenings around the area—even if she was obviously a little bit embarrassed about her hobby. Normally he wasn't into shy girls but Willow seemed nice, smart, and pretty cute to top it off…

_"Is this the game you wish to play, Pine Tree? Because it can be played. I can play it, and I can win without fail. I always get what I want, Pine Tree. Especially because I love you the most, Pine Tree." _

"W-what…? What's that supposed to mean…?" Dipper inquired, turning around to look around the room with clear discomfort on his face. Willow's face turned even redder, simply assuming he was referring to her supernatural club, and Mabel shot him a clearly concerned expression. "What…what game are you talking about…?"

"Dipper, are you feeling alright?" Mabel asked, immediately regretting the words the second they came out of her mouth. Of course he wasn't feeling okay—the last few days had been pretty awful for him. But he didn't respond to the obviously terrible question. No, the brunette simply stared with an open-mouth at Willow.

Mabel directed her gaze back to the blonde visitor and gasped.

The pigtailed youth had collapsed onto the ground, body convulsing rapidly for a few moments. Her pupils had disappeared, with all of her eyes replaced with a shimmering bright blue light. Drool slowly flowed out the side of her wide, open mouth as her shaking body slowly stilled before them—both twins stared in complete horror as Willow's eyelids fell shut over the bright flaming orbs.

_"I shall not do this so slow that I lose to you again, Pine Tree, nor shall I lose to Shooting Star. I've won already! And I'll win every time." _

"Oh my god!" Mabel shrieked as her brother stood, still and wordless, in front of the two girls. His twin had chosen to instead crouch beside the blonde girl and grip at her arm frantically. "Dipper, she doesn't have a pulse! I…Dipper, I think she's dead!"

"This…was the game…?" Dipper breathed out. Mabel glanced up at him with horrified eyes. "This is what you meant to win…?"

"Dipper…?" Mabel said uncertainly as Willow's motionless wrist dropped from her fingers. Her brother didn't respond for a moment, focused on staring blankly into the space in front of him. Store-goers of the Mystery Shack were starting to gather around the motionless girl as to whisper quietly to each other about her unexpected collapse.

"Mabel, this…this thing." The brunette boy took off his hat and placed it on his chest. Mabel rose to her feet and walked over to her brother and placed one hand on each shoulder comfortingly. Dipper simply shook his head. "This thing with pursuing girls…it's got to end, now."

"But we've barely even started…" Mabel glanced over to Willow's body uncomfortably—she couldn't blame Dipper for wanting to stop now. Hell, SHE wanted to stop at this point but she felt like she had to be the upbeat one in this situation. She couldn't let Dipper dwell on the events of last week…

"No, Mabel." He replied, the grip on his hat tightening. Mabel stood there, silently grasping her brother's shoulders and waiting for an explanation for his behavior. He ALWAYS explained to her…that was just THEM. No secrets kept.

But nothing came.

They just watched on quietly as the police arrived in the Mystery Shack to collect the dead body of the girl they had just met.

_"I love you the most, Pine Tree. The very most."_

_()()()()()()()()()_

Night had to come at some point, as did sleep. It was an act usually so comforting and sweet but right now it gave Dipper Pines no feeling of calm. Now all he could do was stare with wide and tired eyes at the ceiling of the attic that they dwelled in. Across from him, Mabel lay on her side with her face to the wall; Dipper couldn't tell if she was awake or asleep. Since Mabel usually snored once she hit deep sleep, he could only assume she was still awake…or at the very least, just barely falling into the clutches of slumber. He couldn't blame her if she wasn't stuck in the latter—today had been trying. Even the most cheerful of people would be emotionally struck by seeing a young girl drop dead in front of them.

Dipper sighed loudly.

If it hurt his sister to see Willow kick the bucket, it easily hurt Dipper even more. After all, he was gripped constantly with the knowledge that he was somewhat responsible for the death. He had a slight feeling that Mabel knew that Bill Cipher was somewhat responsible for the sudden termination of life, but he doubted that his sister had any idea what Dipper had to do with it. SHE hadn't heard the constant voices, after all. To her, it was just another reason to hate the triangle demon.

Dipper shivered—fear coursed through him at the possibility of being hated by his family if they knew his involvement in the earlier fiasco. He wasn't sure if there was enough forgiveness in the WORLD to make them not be upset at their relative for being partly responsible for the death of a young girl who couldn't be older than twelve. No older than his own twin sister.

No older than him.

"You're really letting this get to you, huh, kid?"

Dipper shoots up out of his bed and looks around frantically—the world has gone to complete grayscale and to his horror, Mabel is missing from her bed. Above him, floating at the near perfect center of the ceiling, is the bright yellow triangle. The boy could've sworn that if the demon had a mouth, he would be grinning maliciously down at the preteen as he twirled his ebony cane.

Quickly, the boy realized what had happened. "I fell asleep…"

"Oh, good judgment there, Pine Tree!" Bill laughed loudly, drifting down from the ceiling to float in front of Dipper. The brunette boy glared at the demon hatefully. "What'cha so mad about there, Pine Tree? I complimented you! Hey, I even bothered to take time out of my busy day to visit you in your dreams! I would think you would appreciate that, kid. You're awfully hard to judge sometimes, I gotta say."

"Oh, shut up!" Dipper snapped, pointing at the demon with a shaking arm. Bill only snickered in response. It wasn't like the preteen was going to be able to threaten him in any way. "Why would I be happy to be visited by you? You're out of your freakin' mind, Bill! You've pulled all sorts of horrible stuff on me and my family! You ACTUALLY went out of your way to kill a girl today!"

"Hey, a lot of the stuff I did to you all was business. Nothing personal." Bill replied, clearly still amused by Dipper's tantrum. The boy stomped his foot stubbornly and balled his hands into fists.

"POSSESSING me wasn't personal? KILLING A LITTLE GIRL who did NOTHING TO YOU wasn't personal?" Dipper snapped.

"Oh that. Yeah, that was personal." Bill laughed, slamming his cane down on the wood planks of the floor. "Hey, you know, I know plenty of people who would be really charmed and impressed that I went out of my way to kill someone for them! You're a real pain in the butt to please, Pine Tree, you really are."

"She was a KID!"

"So?" Bill replied as he checked his tiny hands, eye only half opened. The demon didn't even seem interested in the boy's words. "Not my problem that she didn't decide to grow up a little more before getting in my way. Kids, really, they can be the most absentminded pains in the ass sometimes. Just never know when to quit."

"If that's what you think then why are you following me around?!" Dipper hesitated for a moment. "…Then why are you going on about how you LOVE ME THE MOST?!"

Bill was surprisingly silent for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers. A bright light shone across the entire room, causing the brunette boy to step backwards a bit and cover his eyes. When the light faded away and Dipper could look up again, he was more than a bit dismayed to find that the demon was no longer his usual triangle shape—no, he had once again taken on the shape of the short haired blonde with the old-fashioned dress. The short haired blonde that had decided to invade his life.

Little Miss Wilma Cipher.

Dipper supposed her real name was Sally Poole, but that wasn't the name he had grown accustom to. He hadn't learned to be friendly with this girl under the title of the snobby tart from Nevada who thought she was better than everyone else—no, he had learned to befriend her under the name made up by a slick, cruel, and absolutely obnoxious demon that had decided to bludgeon his way into Dipper's life under the disguise of a pretty girl.

He felt like he shouldn't react, COULDN'T react, and yet he still found himself weakening at the knees as a fire of anger burned up in his stomach. Of course Bill could assume the form of this girl again in the mindscape. He practically ruled the mindscape, for crying out loud. He could probably even manipulate the 'Wilma' form into something even crazier if it so struck his interest.

"It's not even a probably, Pine Tree." Bill interrupted Dipper's thoughts as the demon absentmindedly played with the folds of 'Wilma's' dress. "I could do whatever I pleased with this form. But I don't really care to at this moment."

"…So what do you want?" Dipper finally said. He didn't really want the answer but he was also pretty sure he wasn't going to wake up anytime soon. The demon laughed heartily, a cackling and loud laughter that rung against all the walls in the room, and balanced his temporary form against his cane. Dipper noticed briefly that one of Wilma's eyes, now a striking yellow, was covered with a triangle-shaped eye patch. He hadn't noticed it at first, and wondered if Bill was just more comfortable with one eye.

"I am." Bill supplied. Dipper growled.

"Stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what?"

"That…that thing! Where you read my mind or whatever! Just answer my question!"

"Or whatever, that's cute. It's not like you're completely easy to read." Bill snorted in amusement. "As for your question…what do I WANT? You know, Pine Tree, I was under the assumption that you were fairly intelligent. But that's just a flat out dumb question. I'm almost offended, really. I mean, I would think by now my goal was pretty obvious. Especially after all that effort I went through!"

"As if I'm going to believe that you 'love me the most'." Dipper gritted his teeth. Bill snickered.

"I guess it isn't really the most believable right from the get-go, is it?" Bill shifted Wilma's weight to one side, thoughtfully placing one gloved finger on the side of her pale face and twisting it through the blonde hair. The other arm rested its weight against the yellow clad dress on Wilma's hip. It was all very discontenting to see the demon so easily manipulate a body that Dipper knew didn't belong to him—he had to constantly remind himself that they were in the mindscape and Bill could do what he wanted.

Such as sauntering forward to stand in front of the preteen brunette—far, far too close for comfort. Right in front of Dipper with his borrowed form's nose scraping delicately against the boy's, one gloved hand resting delicately against his cheek. The other hand rested against Dipper's red shirt. The blonde head tipped slightly to the side, a crooked smile painted across Wilma's—_Bill's_—full lips. One booted shoe tapped impatiently against the back heel of the other boot.

"Sometimes I lie, Pine Tree. Frequently I lie, in fact." The demon whispered against the brunette's cheek. Amusement laced every single word, sending shivers of fear down Dipper's spine. "But there are times when I tell only the truth, and now is one of those times. I shan't lie about this, my dear boy…never ever. I love you always, Pine Tree. As long as you shall live, I love you always."

"Why?" Dipper breathed against the demon's faked lips. Bill laughed quietly.

"Because, Pine Tree. Rarely do I run into such intelligence, and rarely do I run into a mortal human so capable of outsmarting me." Bill replied, just as quiet in his speech. "Oh, how interesting it is—you have your stupid moments, boy, no doubt, but I know what you are capable. Oh, how fascinating…how intriguing. How endearing. How interesting it is to be outsmarted by one of a species so consistently stupid and purposefully ignorant."

"I—"

"I don't need your words, boy." Bill chuckled. "I don't even need your confirmation. Because I don't ever not get what I want…I can wait. I can wait damn near forever. But I cannot let you play this game with another, especially not with an ignorant human mortal. So just remember that, Pine Tree. After all, you remembering that could keep many of your own kind in safety."

"You're insane." Dipper whispered. This time, Bill's laughter was loud and raucous. He ceased only when both lacey, gloved hands delicately took the boy's face and pressed 'Wilma's' full lips against the young brunette's. Dipper was too shocked, too out of it, too _unsure_, to respond to the action—so he just stood there stupidly and let the demon present him with a kiss in his stolen form. Slowly, a minute or so later, Bill pulled away with a satisfied expression plastered on his face.

"Sure I am." The demon murmured darkly in the preteen's face. "What about it?"

And with that, Dipper woke up abruptly.

He shot up sharply, breathing deeply with one hand planted firmly on his chest. As soon as he gained a more complete awareness he looked over to his twin sister—to his relief, she was now laying asleep in her bed. Small, quiet snores emitted from her as she grasped tightly at a plush toy under her covers. The grayscale universe had disappeared around him, replaced by the dark colors of the night attic bedroom.

He was back home.

But he knew it was all real. The thought made him shiver. Yes…it had all been real. And as crazy and joking as Bill Cipher was, Dipper was quite sure that the demon was serious in quite a few things that had been said in the mindscape only seconds before. He had meant every word and…considering how serious and forward Bill had been with his borrowed form, it wasn't something that he would ever give up on, either.

Dipper buried his face in his hands. Then he grit his teeth

Bill wouldn't give up…but dammit, Dipper wasn't about to give up either.

With that thought coursing through his mind, Dipper was sure he heard a loud and maniacal laugh ringing out through the room. One that apparently only he could hear since Mabel didn't even twitch from her bed. The boy looked around with narrowed eyes and a bit lip, doing his best to exert stubbornness from every bit of her expression. The laughter only grew louder at the action.

_"I love you the most, Pine Tree…even if it takes forever for you to give up."_


	3. Rebuke

**A/N Oh my GOD wow I did not realize that I had only uploaded the first two chapters of this. In reality it is four chapters long and almost every site besides this one has it in full format. But like a total dope I forgot about this website's version of it. I am totally sorry for this and present chapter three and four asap.**

Rebuke

Dipper sat wordlessly on his bed. One of his hands picked quietly at the nails of the other; it wasn't a habit that he was particularly keen on. Unless, of course, he was immensely frustrated. Not just irritated or upset, not just frightened or perturbed. No, only when he was completely and utterly frustrated and faced with a situation that was quite near impossible to solve, even with the help of his family that had always been so helpful in previous dilemmas. This was a crisis that he had no choice but to face alone and to be entirely frank, he wasn't sure if that was something he wanted to do.

He shot a glance across the bed, surreal in its grayscale universe.

The brunette had hoped that the triangular creature across from him wouldn't catch the curious and frustrated eyes that looked at him; in retrospect he knew he had been a fool to even think that Bill Cipher wouldn't notice. The dream demon was near omnipotent. If he was capable of telling the date of any given human being's death than he was certainly capable of noticing when a stumped twelve year old chanced a glance at him. Dipper shivered at the smooth chuckle that emitted from Bill and pushed a little further backwards against the headboard.

"You're awfully quiet tonight, Pine Tree." Bill commented; Dipper immediately shot a glare at the dream demon. Yes, perhaps tonight he was silent—unlike the other dozens of times that Bill now visited him in his mind. Ever since the creature had so casually killed a young girl in the Mystery Shack, he had taken to visiting Dipper in his dreams. This had to have been at least the fortieth time that his unconscious, uncontrollable thoughts been invaded. The one place that the boy could not, without a single doubt, avoid Bill Cipher. After all, everyone had to sleep eventually and as much as Dipper fought it he too eventually would fall into slumber.

And with a slightly uncomfortable twitch in his mind, Dipper admitted to himself that even if he could avoid sleep…Bill could probably find some way to force it upon him. The mind was Bill's playpen—if he needed to trick it into dozing away for a little while, then there wasn't a single doubt that he could do exactly that. The demon was simply being…

Dipper grimaced at the concept, undeniable as it was.

The demon was simply trying to be polite. For the moment, anyways.

It was disgusting.

Simply disgusting, Dipper thought. Disgusting and inconceivable that a being that had gone out of its way to invade the mind of his family, possess his body, and kill a young girl who wasn't even involved…the thought of Bill Cipher attempting politeness after his laundry list of crimes was enough to summon bile to the brunette boy's throat. So he wouldn't play Bill's game. No, he would just ignore and refuse eye contact with the merciless yellow dream demon as he sat patiently across the bed from the boy.

Such a task was not one that came easily to him. Certainly not when full lips pressed affectionately against the preteen's cheek, a white gloved hand caressing his face. Soft and disturbingly gentle as it pulled his gaze away from the bed across from him, and towards the blonde girl sitting in front of him. Dipper grimaced; Bill's little illusionary girl was always complete with her black cloak and perky yellow dress. Always complete with a huge, unpleasant grin and one shimmering gold eye.

Perhaps Bill was under the impression that this would win the boy over more. Dipper sneered; if anything it lost the demon even more points. The brunette had grown a severe hatred of this Wilma that Bill Cipher had created as his temporary vessel to invade the boy's life. Her walking into the Mystery Shack—that had started all of this.

"You don't like Miss Wilma Cipher?" The demon said, tone cheeky and still attempting to imitate the feminine tone of a youthful girl. Her glove-clad hand continued to stroke the boy's face in what Dipper assumed was meant as an affectionate gesture. It failed at its goal; the strokes of the hand had steadily grown rougher and closer to a slap rather than a caress. Still, Dipper didn't move or respond. He just glared off past the manufactured face into the distance behind Bill.

Claws, made of the girl's unpainted fingernails, seemed to tear effortlessly through the white fabric as to dig into the skin of Dipper's cheek. The brunette flinched as the drops of blood streaked down his face; unintentionally his gaze fell back into the bright gold eye of the demon vessel in front of him. Though Dipper hadn't thought it possible, the stolen grin on his face widened tremendously. As if she had won or something.

"You don't like Miss Wilma Cipher?" Bill repeated. Dipper narrowed his eyes in reply. He refused to give the demon any actual words to work off of. The triangle cackled loudly, as if entirely aware of the boy's intention, and the body of the blonde girl sat back on the lower legs. Clawed hands crossed patiently over the yellow dress and Bill tilted the head to the side with a knowing smirk painted onto the rosy lips.

Now that he had looked at Bill, there really wasn't any point in looking away—Bill had already won that little fight. So Dipper cast an inspecting eye across the seated form. As usual it carried every trait of the girl who had strutted into the Mystery Shack without a care. Well…besides the animal-like claws, gleaming golden eyes, and triangular eyepatch situated carefully over the left eye. Dipper was mildly amazed at how easily Bill could take a form that was, by all means, fairly unthreatening and turn it into a menacing figure. All it had really taken was the gleaming gold eye—accompanied by Bill's new malicious grin, such eyes seemed to stare right into the brunette's soul.

"You don't like Miss Wilma Ciph—"

"Will you STOP asking that?!" Dipper finally screeched. Then he covered his mouth in dismay. Bill's visible eye fell over the oval shaped pupils, clearly full of amusement at the boy's failed efforts. So Dipper simply gave in and pushed forward across the gray bedsheets, face right up in that of the stolen form and purposely ignoring the threat his actions carried. "NO, I DON'T like Miss Wilma Cipher! All Miss Wilma Cipher did was trick me, and run off to kill people who didn't deserve it! All Miss Wilma Cipher did was invade my dreams constantly under some crazy idea that it would make me LIKE her!"

"Oh, your words are so strong, Pine Tree!" Bill snickered. "But you don't seem to be talking about Miss Wilma Cipher, do you?"

"Way to guess the obvious, triangle." Dipper hissed. "Now get out of my dreams."

"You really think that after forty tries of telling me to get out, it would work this time?" Bill cackled, pushing forward just enough to press 'Wilma's' nose against the brunette boy's. "I have no reason to leave. I have a goal to meet here, after all, and Bill Cipher never loses."

"I know you have a goal." Dipper snapped. He didn't bother to move away from the other's nose—he had long since learned that it wasn't worth it to fight Bill's advances. "And I don't believe in it for a second."

"That's not very nice, Pine Tree." Bill said, narrowing the visible golden eye and frowning deeply. One thin fingers had taken to tapping impatiently against the boy's exposed knee; Dipper could tell that the creature was going through great effort to keep the thick clawed fingernails from digging into him. "You know, I'm an important demon. I have lots of things to be doing. By no means would I stick around your life for no real reason. Certainly not for a good two months now."

"Then you're trying to get somet—"

"Pine Tree. Think for a minute. Use that head of yours." One claw ran delicately down one of the scratches on Dipper's face, and to the brunette's surprise, rosy lips were bit in frustration. The demon was actually irritated by the reaction he was getting from the boy? "The plan I had…wouldn't it be just as easy to execute if I barged into your life as a friend? I could've easily still have gotten the book. What would possibly be gained by becoming a target of your affection?"

Dipper watched the false body in front of him silently; as if reading into the brunette's observations of Wilma as a falsehood, said body began to melt away and reform itself into the triangular demon that had caused so much trouble beforehand. At the action, the boy gripped his hands together on his own lap. Thoughts ran through his mind at a million miles per hours. It wasn't like Bill's words were entirely wrong—the demon could have easily achieved his goal without playing the part of a pretty girl and trying to be a target to woo. If anything it would have likely been a lot less of a pain in the ass.

"You killed a girl." Dipper said finally, voice so quiet that he was almost silent. Bill's shape seemed to resonate with a slight tinge of red as his eye flared a pure black color. "You killed a little girl. And if I'm supposed to believe what you're saying, you killed a little girl for a really stupid reason. A really selfish reason."

"That's how I am." Bill said unapologetically. Dipper scowled and the dream demon hesitated slightly. "It is how every creature of my type is. We were born to create suffering in the days of mortals, and cut an end to their lives."

"Why?"

"Why?" The question seemed to throw even the omnipotent dream demon off a bit. But Dipper didn't even flinch; the stubborn expression on his young face didn't change in the slightest. He simply stared, almost judgmentally, into the large eye of the creature. The question was not about to be taken back. "…Because it is just how we're made. I told you. Made to create suffering and to end lives. I can answer a lot of questions, kid, but I can't tell you why any one thing was made the way it was."

"So how can you expect anything to love you back if you're made to kill and cause plague?" Dipper asked. His anger was fading slowly, replaced by curiosity. The feeling of rage still bit at the back of his mind, of course, but he couldn't help but be overtaken by the mystery sitting right in front of him. "…How can you expect anyone to even believe you're capable of loving something if your purpose is to cause all of…all of THAT? It doesn't even seem like you would know what LOVE felt like."

"…I knew you to be pretty smart, Pine Tree. But this is a sort of wise that I didn't expect to hear from any mortal." Bill replied. His tone was detached and distant, as if he wasn't even talking to the boy he addressed. Like he was thinking of something far away. "Of course…love is something that demonic creatures do know of. While we're immortal, we are still plagued with all the emotions of mortality. We just are far better at repressing and rejecting them. I know I can love simply because I have loved before, though that being is long since dead at this point. Bad habit of falling for mortals, you see. As for expecting anything to love me back…"

The gray mindscape was silent for a few moments as Dipper patiently waited for an answer. When it didn't come, he attempted to prompt the dream demon for it. "Bill? What about expecting things to love you back?"

"…I don't expect anything." Bill replied abruptly. "I force them to. It's our way."

The shattering silence of the tattered mindscape returned immediately. Dipper stared, open mouthed, at the demon. The shimmering glow that the yellow creature traditionally emitted seemed duller somehow. His one eye focused pointedly on the ground below his cane; on first glance one would peg Bill's expression as one of unattached disdain. After a month and a half of spending every dream with the demon, though, Dipper could see the slight twinge of discomfort within the eye.

"If that's your method;" Dipper said loudly, pointedly trying to gain the demon's attention with volume. It worked quite well—Bill immediately cast his focus back on the boy with a look that almost seemed confused. "than I hate to let you know that it sure as hell isn't going to work. I won't be FORCED to do anything. Especially if your method of romancing someone is just walking up and saying that they belong to you. But…"

"But?" Bill interrupted. Dipper shook his head slightly at the hopefulness.

"…But I think I can believe you, now. Demons are different from people, I guess, but you share a lot of similarities with us too." Dipper tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Can you do one of the biggest tricks a human being can do?"

"And what would that be?"

Dipper finally managed to plaster a (considerably weak and somewhat malicious) grin on his face. "The biggest trick that any person can perform: defying what nature tells them they have to do, and changing who they are."

Dipper woke up in his bed with a sharp gasp. Quickly he sent a glance over to his sister. Mabel Pines was sleeping contently with Waddles wrapped in her tiny arms. Under normal circumstances Dipper probably would have grimaced at the sight—that pig really did not need to be sleeping in her bed—but tonight he just gave a weak chuckle. After the dream argument he had gone through tonight, any sight of his off kilter family was enough to send a bit of joy through him.

He paused, looking away from the sleeping girl and her pig companion.

Right.

The dream argument.

Bill hadn't answered him. He hadn't risen to Dipper's challenge. The brunette was almost glad that the demon had chosen to essentially run from it; in retrospect, Dipper had been talking like a madman. He could barely believe himself at this point. Literally he had gone out of his way to propose a challenge against a creature that had invaded dreams, possessed children, and killed a preteen girl who had done nothing to him. The brunette couldn't even imagine what crazy thoughts had been going through his mind.

…But at least Bill had essentially rejected it. Dipper gave a sigh of relief and reached out to grab his hat—the preteen really felt like going downstairs for a little while might help calm him down. Maybe watch some television. It was almost sunrise anyways. He was caught off guard, however, when he noticed that the strap on his truck hat was unbuttoned—and inside the cap a string of words were scribbled in dark pen.

Hesitantly, Dipper looked closer into the hat.

I will take your challenge, Pine Tree. If only to grow closer to you. I'll be there soon, my dear…I'll be there soon.

—Bill Cipher

Dipper dropped the trucker hat with a loud, high pitched shriek. It rang into two as his sister woke up, throwing Waddles off the bed accidentally. She fell off the bed inelegantly and, for a few moments, rolled around on the carpet separating their beds. Dipper ceased his own screams for a moment to stare at his wild sister, even moreso when her overexcited shrieks turned into loud giggles. As this happened, her pet pig quickly joined her in rolling around on the fuzz. It was certainly a sight to see, Dipper would admit that.

"Good morning to you too." Dipper said dryly. Mabel grasped tightly at Waddles' from the middle and rolled over to face her brother with a broad grin on her face.

"Hey there, Dippingsauce! What's up with all the yells and screams?" Dipper resisted the urge to roll his eyes; at least Mabel was always there to lighten the mood. And if her brother needed anything at that moment, it was a lighter mood. "You don't look too happy there. What's up? Have a bad dream?"

"You don't even know the half of it." Dipper replied. Mabel rolled to her feet, pig still in hand. She presented the chubby pink animal to her brother and he shook his head. "No, Mabel, I don't think hugging Waddles is going to solve this one."

"That sounds pretty bad." Mabel frowned.

Dipper stared blankly at his sister for a moment. While Mabel knew some of the details of the whole dilemma with Bill, she didn't know the whole story. She didn't know anything past the fact that Bill had masqueraded as a girl. Dipper had a suspicion that his twin had a slight idea that Bill had been responsible for the death of Willow, but he had never gone out of his way to confirm it. Certainly it wasn't that he didn't trust Mabel. No…it was more that after Bill killing a person over this debacle, Dipper feared for the safety of the people close to him. Sadly, that fear had included not telling any of them about the dreams that Bill had been invading for the past month and a half.

He refused to cause the death of any of his family.

But now…now that Bill was planning on showing up again…

"Mabel, I need to tell you something." Dipper finally said. The girl tipped her head to the side in confusion. "Don't be mad at me because I didn't say anything earlier, okay? I was just trying to keep you safe."

"Dipper…? What's going on?"

"Look, for the past forty nights or something…Bill Cipher has been visiting my dreams." Dipper confessed. Mabel let out an audible gasp. "He's been basically harassing me in my dreams to get me to, uh…do something for him. But I wouldn't do it."

"You did the right thing, Dip!" Mabel proclaimed. The boy had to chuckle at her straightforward determination, even though she didn't know what was going on.

"Y-yeah. I think I did the right thing too. But tonight we got into a…new kind of conversation." Dipper said, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. "About, uh…demons. And uh, how demons feel about things. So I kinda…I kinda made a deal with him. Well, more like challenged him."

"You challenged a demon?!" Mabel cried. Dipper shuddered a bit; he was in trouble if even absentminded Mabel thought he had made a stupid choice. It wasn't as if he could take it back, though. "Oh, DIPPER…"

"I didn't think he'd take the challenge!" Dipper cried desperately as he waved his hands around frantically. Mabel grabbed his wrists and lowers his hands to his side; the boy dipped his head in shame. "I…I really didn't. I mean…I kinda even thought he HADN'T cause he didn't take it in the dream. B-but when I woke up…well…"

Slowly, hesitantly, Dipper showed the inside of the hat to his sister. Mabel took the blue cap from his hands and inspected the message inside. Her eyes seemed to scan every single word and Dipper was unnerved when he saw one of her eyebrows raise slightly. Desperately he hoped that she wouldn't read too deeply into the way the message had been written. Then again, he thought morosely, that was like wishing for Grunkle Stan to make a pile of pancakes that WASN'T coated in old man hair.

"Dipper…what does he mean by 'if only to grow closer to you'?" Mabel asked. Dipper groaned; of course she would immediately catch that part of the message. Silly as she could be, his twin sister certainly was not stupid. "There's something you aren't telling me here."

"Well, yeah, I mean…" Dipper looked away towards the triangular window above their beds. Mabel would have none of it; she moved into his line of sight and tightly grabbed his face by the cheeks so he couldn't look away from her. The brunette boy frowned slightly. She was always so determined, and sometimes it could definitely get really irritating. Especially when she was trying to learn things that people didn't want her to know.

That determination had gotten them both far, though.

"The truth is that all of this is happening because Bill Cipher decided that he's in love with me." Dipper confessed. Mabel's eyes widened considerably as her grip on her twin's face loosened. "Wilma, the girl getting killed, these dream visits…it's all because Bill picked me to 'love' or something. I guess part of their demon courtship is basically FORCING the person they like to be theirs."

"Dipper, that's crazy! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" Mabel cried, now smushing the boy's face with her hands. He quickly slapped both hands away.

"I told you. I wanted to keep everyone safe. I didn't know what he would do to my family if they knew about it, because I KNOW everyone would try and help with this." Dipper shook his head. "But now I don't have any choice because Bill is coming back to the Mystery Shack to take this stupid challenge I accidentally made."

"…Dipper, um…" Mabel hesitated for a moment and her brother sent her a curious look. "I…I don't want to pry or anything but…what exactly did you challenge Bill to do?"

"…He said that this crap about killing and tormenting people was part of demon nature or something. And so was 'forcing' things to be his lover." Dipper sighed deeply, scratching his arm uncomfortably. "So…I challenge him to defy that. I told him to defy what nature tells him to do, and be less…him. To stop killing and tormenting and forcing people to be his."

"Dipper, this seems dangerous." Mabel said seriously; it was rare for her to take on such a tone but now apparently was the ideal time. "I mean…what if he changes? What if he actually manages to be something OTHER than what demons are supposed to be? What are you going to do then? I mean, he…I guess he really wants you. If he manages to control what he's supposed to be than what will YOU make of it?"

"Are you crazy, Mabel?" Dipper snapped. Then he plastered a grin on his face. "He's not going to change. He's not going to bother to control who he is, because it's crystal clear that he enjoys what he is. And it's even more crystal clear that I am never going to want that weirdo triangle, especially with his attitude and what he's done!"

Mabel said nothing as her twin returned to his bed. She just twiddled her thumbs nervously—the girl liked romance and flirting but this seemed like it could turn really bad, really quickly. No matter what Dipper said about it.


	4. Reawaken

Reawaken

She seemed older somehow.

Dipper wasn't sure if she was, though. After all, the first time that Wilma had shown up on the Mystery Shack's doorstep, he hadn't known that she was Bill Cipher. He could only have identified her as a girl his age at that time. Now he was looking at a girl that he knew was not a girl, who he knew well was a demon of an unknown age. Such would not disappear from his mind, no matter how much the pre-crafted rose lips curved into a smile that now spoke of nothing but deception.

He looked away and lowered the cap of his trucker hat. If anything, he didn't want Bill catching the clear grimace pasted on his face. When the demon had shown up the previous morning in the same cutesy little blonde girl body, both twins had immediately flipped out. The closer they looked, however, the more they realized it was not the blonde from before. Bill had not possessed Sally Poole. The hair was less pale, the body was much lankier, and most noticeably the eyes were a bright emerald green this time. She was a different girl—and the twins were quite upset about that until Bill explained. Not that it made anything better, considering what he had to say.

"Her name is Mary Poole, my dear children." The demon said calmly. A wide, disturbing smile spread across the possessed face. "She is the older sister of little Miss Sally Poole! And she's been dead for a good three months now."

"You killed her!" Mabel interrupted. Bill laughed jovially, eyes blinking separately in an attempt to close.

"No, no! Yeesh, you kids jump to such conclusions sometimes, I swear." He snickered. Mabel stepped back next to her brother with crossed arms and puffed cheeks. "You can wipe those expressions off your little faces because I didn't have squat to do with Mary Poole's death. She just happened to…unexpectedly pass away while playing with her little sister, that's all. Tea in the tea set got poisoned, or so I hear! A good old batch of laundry detergent dumped right in dear ol' Mary's cup. I just took the poor child out of her resting place and repaired her a bit…that's all."

"Eww." Mabel cringed and took a few steps behind the counter.

Dipper, on the other hand, stood his ground. His gaze was not as brave; both brown eyes directed straight at the ground at the implications behind Bill's words. With or without the book the boy could not decide exactly how to interpret what the demon had said…especially with the prominent grin stretching the blonde's face. Even after weeks of Bill's presence in the Mystery Shack, the young boy couldn't decide what had truly lay behind the phrase. He wasn't even sure he truly wanted to know. Especially since when he hesitantly asked the demon about it, Bill had simply grinned maliciously and told him that the world was very cruel. That humanity was much crueler than he as a demon could ever hope to be.

Dipper grimaced at the memory, his grip tightening considerably on the broom handle between his tiny hands. It had been so many weeks since the demon vessel had shown up at the Mystery Shack again, smiling maliciously and completely prepared to live out his presented challenge. Dipper was too aware that he had made a mistake in basically inviting the demon into his house, into his LIFE, but at this point he didn't really have a choice but to keep a suspicious eye on the creature. To frequently sneak a glance at the blonde girl in her strange olden-style outfit as she sat by the bobblehead display case.

Bill had hypnotized Grunkle Stan into letting 'Wilma' work at the Shack. Both twins were sure of it and could do absolutely nothing about it. The crafty little bastard had simply slipped into their Grunkle's mind while neither twin was looking (because after all, no child could be on guard 24/7) and placed in the old man's mind the idea that 'Wilma' must be hired as soon as she showed up again. There was no other explanation for Stan's lack of foresight in hiring a girl clearly under sixteen—he had, after all, given the lanky blonde child a job before she had even asked.

"Disgusting, manipulating, inhumane…" Dipper muttered under his breath.

He immediately ceased his speech once he felt a pair of skinny little arms wrap around his chest and tighten. The brunette boy froze, feeling the possessed body press against his own—he could almost see the satisfied smile on Bill's face without even turning around to face the creature. Dipper wouldn't give the demon that satisfaction, though. He kept his gaze focused directly on the wall in front of him. It didn't seem to deter the demon in the slightest.

"That is surely quite the cruelty and hatred you carry with you, Pine Tree." Bill whispered in the boy's ear—his tone was quiet and enchanting, and surprisingly thick with amusement. Dipper's grip on the broom handle tightened. "And to think I have done nothing to you and your family since I've gotten here!"

"I'm pretty sure you tricked Grunkle Stan."

"Well, dear me, Pine Tree! That was a bit of a necessity, wasn't it? After all—"

"Necessity or not, it isn't anything GOOD." Dipper interrupted, finally turning around to push the possessed girl away from him.

Irritation only dug into him more when he could actually see her expression. 'Wilma' had a face pasted on her that spoke of nothing but amusement at his own anger—but Dipper caught view of her hands quite quickly. A true contradiction of her face. Normally plain nails curled into dark black claws and pale skin was flushed a dark red of frustration. Her hands spoke of how the demon within was fighting desperately to hold back an anger that was so used to being released whenever it pleased.

"You're giving yourself away, Bill." Dipper noted, taking one of the hands and raising it up to the demon's face. Her eyes creased immediately, sharply jerking the hand out of Dipper's hand. The limb immediately began to morph away from the demonic figure and back to the tiny and fragile hand of the corpse girl. With that, the regular grin returned to the stolen face, albeit considerably weaker than before.

"My bad!" Was all that the demon seemed to be able to manage after his accident. Dipper crossed his arms, eyes narrowing.

"I don't even know what the heck you're doing here, Bill." He shook his head and clicked his tongue. The stretched grin on the blonde's face quickly fell into a tight frown, skin morphing to a slightly gray tone—the tone that truly reflected the deceased. Dipper was slowly but surely noting the weak control that Bill seemed to have over the new body. He figured it could only be because the dead were a bit more difficult to deal with. Perhaps they were simply more…floppy, the brunette supposed (with a slight shiver running through his own body at the thought).

"Is it not obvious why I'm here, Pine Tree?" Bill replied, lacing thin fingers together behind the girl's back while crossing one high laced boot behind the other. For all intents and purposes his girlish pose gave off a clear vibe of innocent—to Dipper it just sent more shivers down his spine. Both of them knew the uncomfortable game that they were playing. "Was it not you who challenged me to this? After all…the book is GONE. I've already taken care of that little problem. You're the only little problem I have left…you and your little challenge."

Clacking boots brought the blonde creature closer to Dipper, the latter finding himself paralyzed in fear as delicate hands wrapped around his face. Said terror only grew as the slim fingers grew into pitch black claws that dug into the tween boy's skin. The pasty white skin that the demon inhabited began to change—first to a bright and extreme yellow, then to a glowing red. Her emerald eyes darkened to a pitch black and the pupils changed to a pure white, though that was not nearly as unsettling as the separate eyes merging into one.

Loosely, in the back of his mind, Dipper could only half-wonder why no one in the store wasn't noticing the changes in the lanky girl. The rest of his conscious was dedicated to a palatable fear of what the girl could do with her possessed body, and with the dark red droplets of blood slipping down his cheek.

"STOP THAT!"

Dipper was knocked out of his reverie as Wilma was pushed out of his frontal sight and onto the floor beside him. Black limbs were ripped away from the boy's cheeks; they left long rips of blood to drip down his face. The blonde hit the floor with a loud thumping sound, a slight shriek escaping from her lipless red face as her body quickly resumed its false form. Above her towered Mabel Pines, cheeks puffed in frustration and a glowing kitten shirt flashing down upon the possessed corpse.

"Mabel!" Dipper cried, grasping weakly at his sister's sweater sleeve in an attempt to pull her away from the clearly frustrated demon. His twin didn't move away from her stubborn stance in front of her brother; if anything, her cheeks only puffed larger.

"Shooting Star." Bill managed a weak smirk. "How nice to see you."

"I am so sick of this guy!" Mabel stomped her foot in irritation, waving her hands back and forth aside her long curls. Dipper's grip on her sweater loosened slightly. "He comes here with some dumb promise that he'll live up to your challenge and stop being so dumb and dangerous, and when has he done it even once?! He just…he just causes trouble! He just hurts people instead!"

"Now, now, Shooting Star, such a challenge takes time. It IS a challenge of defying nature itse—" Bill stumbled to his feet to lecture Mabel, but the girl interrupted the dream demon quickly.

"Don't gimme that!" She yelled. People in the Mystery Shack were starting to stare at the girl as she threw her tantrum—Dipper briefly wondered in the back of his mind why none of them had bothered to pay attention when the lanky blonde 'Wilma' had been turning a demonic red and trying to scratch his face off. He supposed Bill had done something to distract them. It wasn't like he was incapable of it. It didn't matter anymore anyways, really; the store was already fairly empty and now the remaining customers were slowly fleeing.

"What have I done, exactly? I'm just trying to make an effort here, child. The least you could do is try to respect that." The demon placed thin arms behind her back and leaned forward, pressing her forehead against Mabel's. The girl twitched and pressed her free hand against Wilma's chest. "Can you not at least respect my effort to take this challenge and win the respect of that which I desire? That which I love?"

"…I know love." Mabel replied softly. For once, and maybe only once, a serious tone seemed to have overtaken the girl. Her grip tightened on the black fabric slung over Wilma's body. Despite that, the blonde's malicious grin only increased in size. "A lot of my love has been pretty superficial, I guess, but…I know that there was still an affection in it. And there ain't a single drop of affection in your freaky little body…it ain't nothing but plain, simple, gross desire and want."

"Mabel." Dipper tried urgently to intervene but Bill interrupted the boy immediately.

"That's awfully bold of you, little itty bitty Shooting Star. Awfully bold for a little girl who has not ever encountered actual affection and love outside of her family, to call MY affection and love to be false." His tone was now that akin to a deep and angry hiss, both hands wrapping around Mabel's lower arm. Dipper released his sister's sweater to grasp frantically at the poofy sleeve of the dream demon's false form; he found that it was like a mouse trying to drag a redwood tree out of the dirt. "Interrupting my goal is a truly impertinent one, if not a wildly valiant one. I can at least give you credit for your downright bravery, Shooting Star—not many people have the downright stupidity-ridden bravery that you have."

"U-um…I don't need compliments from you!" Mabel snapped, confusion riddled in her expression. Bill's vocabulary was a bit much for her but she wasn't about to let him win here. Neither was Dipper, apparently, as he had moved from yanking at Wilma's poofy sleeve to yanking at Wilma's fingers that wrapped tightly around Mabel's arm.

"Such a stupid child." The dream demon shook Wilma's head in what seemed to be disappointment. "Such a stupid, stupid, stupid child. I wonder, do stupid children known that in the case of dual birth…a deal made by one in the birth carries over to the other?"

"W-what? I'm not stupid, silly! I'm an 'ingenious mind' and a creative gift to this world, you silly." Mabel straight up with pride in her voice, a shaky smile crossing her face. Dipper, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes; Bill's words sent a rash of discomfort through him. He didn't like a single thing about what had been said.

"The terms of the agreement were that one of the birth would be mine if I was successful." Bill continued, ignoring Mabel's self-praise. The girl narrowed her eyes slightly, waving her arms back and forth to free herself from the demon's tight grip. It was nary worth the effort; her arms remained within Wilma's hands. "Which I guess would mean that if Pine Tree was within my grasp, then if I so desired…so would be Shooting Star."

Dipper was too late to realize what Bill was getting at.

He was too late to realize as Wilma's body collapsed to the ground with emerald eyes rolling up into her head and limbs going limp as she hit the hard wood. Mabel's body quickly followed hers, landing on top of the lanky girl's heavily decorated body to successfully muss up Wilma's perfectly styled hair. The two girls lay there on the ground for a moment; the only movement was two remaining customers peering out from behind shelves and Dipper staring down upon them with clear horror on his face.

Then, slowly and awkwardly, Mabel stumbled to her feet with her arms held away from her torso at an odd angle.

Most noticeably, though, were her pupils that curved into disturbing ovals.

She laughed as soon as she managed to catch her balance. The sound, that loud and barely controlled shrill and hysterical giggle, almost sent Dipper off to vomit. It was not his sister. He knew it was not his sister. SHE didn't have Mabel's rosy cheeks. SHE didn't have Mabel's off-kilter chuckle. SHE barely even managed to puff her cheeks up with that child-like glee that Mabel always expressed. Even the flashing kitten shirt seemed to have less of a bright glow.

No.

It was certainly not Mabel Pines.

"Why the HELL…" Dipper whispered. His arms hung limply at his sides as his twin sister hobbled around the Mystery Shack. Her wild cackle seemed to fill every corner of the room, almost shrill enough to scare off the remaining customers. "Why the HELL would you even think this was the right idea…"

With that, the brunette girl turned sharply to her brother. A toothy grin stretched across her face, almost too wide to truly be a product of a human face. Even on a child it would have frightened off any normal person; Dipper wasn't about to let himself be scared away by this. He COULDN'T. Not if he gave a damn about his sister. So instead, he stepped boldly forward towards the girl who was now chewed (almost curiously) on her own hair. It dropped from her teeth as he approached, eyes narrowing and smirk pasting itself on her face.

"What the hell is this?!" Was all Dipper could manage to yell at Bill.

"'Love' can mean a lot of things, Pine Tree." Bill replied. A clump of brown hair still hung loosely from Mabel's front tooth; the demon didn't seem to mind that it was apparently stuck there. "In this case…'love' referred directly to the affection shared between two creatures, and also the 'love' that refers to possessing the other creature as their own. As 'mine'."

"Why Mabel?!" Dipper screamed. He had officially lost control of his temper. He had tried so hard when this nonsense had begun to keep his sister out of this ridiculous challenge and out of Bill's obsession affection for him—and even with that effort, Dipper had still lost. Mabel had still fallen prey to Bill's little game. "You never claimed any LOVE for her! You never said that you had some WEIRDO AFFECTION for HER! What the hell made you go after her?! What'd she even do to deserve this?!"

"For one, she struck me and opposed my effort. That's a good reason, wouldn't you say?" Mabel's hands clapped in an almost childish glee. Dipper's hands tightened into fists. "And two, it is just what I said. Dual birth—that's twins, mind you—results in both twins being under the influence of any deal made by one twin. Any deal you make with any creature, Pine Tree, automatically affects Shooting Star if the creature that made the deal so wishes for her to be affected. Mind you, this doesn't often happen, since most creatures don't know about it. Hell, I could've used it when I possessed YOU…if I had moved fast enough. Sadly I didn't."

"But you broke what we agreed on!" Dipper snapped. "You…this sure as hell ISN'T defying your nature! You're being just as horrible as you always are!"

"Oh darn, looks like I did." Mabel's shoulders shrugged, face still twisted up in amusement. "Looks like a leopard just can't change their spots. Too bad for you, I'm already in Shooting Star's body and there isn't a single thing you can do about it!"

Dipper stood there for a moment, digesting what was being told to him. Bill didn't plain to leave Mabel's body. He had lost his twin sister. He had lost the wacky and goofy girl who was almost never serious…yet was always willing to listen, even if she wasn't always helpful in her lent ear. The twin sister who was always sitting around giving birth to some crazy and creative idea like using a Bedazzler on her face or making a whole attic wall into a scrapbook of silly Photoshopped pictures. That one kid that had always been there for him, no matter how ridiculous his own ideas were.

Then Dipper ceased his internal monologue to think more seriously.

"Bill…" He said slowly, hesitantly. Bill twirled a clump of curly brown hair around Mabel's finger absentmindedly. "Why would you even bother to possess my sister? What…what exactly do you have to gain?"

The expression that crossed the demon's face was enough to cause panic to run through Dipper's entire body.

"Don't you remember what I said in your dream?" Bill chuckled, running one glitter encrusted finger under Dipper's chin. The boy grabbed the wandering hand and pulled it away from his face, a clear glare present on his features. The dream demon allowed the boy to hold the hand away from his face and simply allowed a tittering snicker to escape him. "I don't think you do, Pine Tree. But I did say it rather clearly."

"Get to the point, Bill."

"So stubborn." Bill laughed. Then Mabel's possessed face went completely free of expression. "I told you quite simply, boy, that demons do not expect things to love us back. We force them to."

The brunette boy and his possessed sister stood there for a moment in the now empty store. Then, Dipper shook his head in disdain.

"So what? Are you going to hold my sister's body hostage until I say that I love you too? Don't be such an idiot. Mabel's too stubborn to let herself stay possessed for that long…and you shouldn't think I would let it happen, either. Book or not." Dipper spat venomously, turning away from his curly haired twin sister. Despite that, though, he still tilted his head just enough to see Mabel's possessed form. It was just enough to see the demon within her simply shake his head in false disappointment—a disappointment closer to amusement than it was to genuine sadness.

"You have such a small thought process, Pine Tree. I mean, honestly. I had thought better of you." Bill grabbed the boy and flipped him around to face his possessed sister, her arms lacing around his neck as she closed in on her twin. Dipper shivered visibly. "Now don't be too nervous there, Pine Tree, it's just me. Your good old friend Bill Cipher. Nothing to be nervous about…honestly."

"I…if you aren't…if you aren't going to hold her hostage…" Dipper stuttered weakly, uncomfortable with the direction that Bill had chosen to take this possession. The demon giggled slightly and tightened the grip on the boy's neck, pressing his sister's nose against his. Young male humans were so damn easy to manipulate when it came to women, even the ones they were related to. "If you aren't going…g-going to hold the body hostage…what a-are you going to do?!"

Bill grinned widely, slowly running one pink-painted nail down the tween boy's face as he pressed the boy against the wooden wall of the Mystery Shack. With that, he lay one quick glossy peck against the brunette boy's cheek, continuing to a longer kiss right on the lips. The demon pressed his possessed body hard against her sibling, as lusciously as he could while in the body of a twelve year old. Dipper himself had frozen solid, arms splaying out against the redwood logs that made up the Shack's wall. His large eyes had widened as far as they could; all thought had escaped his mind as the one thing he had never even thought of doing before occurred.

With that, Bill pulled away from Dipper with a small smirk plastered on the face of his possessed subject—slowly he moved Mabel's mouth to her brother's ear to whisper in it. "Possessing bodies is good for more than just hostages….after all, there are just so many high cliffs and trees that one could just unfortunately have a nasty fall from. If you get my meaning, Pine Tree."

Dipper's eyes widened—though at this point he didn't even figure that was even possible. Bill was threatening Mabel's life with this possession? Certainly it had crossed the brunette boy's mind once or twice that Bill might be capable of such a thing while in control of a body, but he had never thought that the dream demon would actually do it. Or threaten to do it, anyways. Dipper supposed with Bill possessing an already deceased girl, it hadn't been much of a concern that the blonde girl would end up careening off a cliff or anything.

Mabel, though…

Mabel was a completely different story.

"You'd do it, wouldn't you." Dipper said. It wasn't a question.

"Well, why wouldn't I?" Bill replied nonchalantly, releasing one hand from Dipper's neck to check at the cheerily painted nails. A frown crossed the face he currently owned. "Such gaudily bright colors. Tasteless. World might be better off without a child so brimming with lack of taste."

"You killed Sally Poole without a second thought." Dipper continued, ignoring the demon's comments on his twin's rather out-there sense of style. "You can't even be bothered to bat at an eye at her older sister dying. You just don't care about death in the slightest."

"Now he's getting it!" Bill released the other hand on Dipper's neck to sarcastically applaud the boy. Dipper narrowed his eyes and attempted to push his sister's possessed body backwards; Bill would have none of it, steadfastly keeping the gaudy girl in place. "So what do you say, Pine Tree? It's a fair offer. One twin for the other twin. Your life for hers. Join me in the mindscape and be mine, and she will be able to live peacefully for the rest of her life."

"If I say no?"

"Well." Bill pushed forward again, staring pointedly into Dipper's eyes with those strange oval pupils. "Then I will likely take this body to the nearest cliff I can find and throw her off of it."

Dipper stood, pressed against the redwood log wall, for what seemed like a good long hour. Mabel's possessed frame stood in close proximity to his still body, heavily glittered hands resting on the boy's cheeks in what seemed like an expression of affection. Bill seemed completely willing to wait out whatever decision that his object of affection came to. The two, one brunette boy and one girl possessed by a dream demon, seemed to anyone on the outside to be engaged in some long standing staring contest. Finally, with a heavy sigh, Dipper sighed and his head dropped down to stare at his feet. Bill's, or rather Mabel's, face broke out into an expression of victory.

Before he left the earthly form he had bound himself to, Bill lifted Dipper's head upwards so the boy could stare into the distorted oval pupils and take in the toothy smirk that crossed his sister's face.

And quietly, right up against the boy's lips, he whispered: "I always win what I want in the long run, Pine Tree…and it was most certainly you that I wanted."

()()()()()()()

She knew.

Oh God, how she knew.

Mabel Pines had struggled for years to figure out a way to get her twin brother back—even daring a trip into the mindscape once or twice—with no fruit in her effort. Even with all of her mourning at Bill Cipher's success in stealing her twin, no one else seemed to know. No one else seemed to even remember. Dipper was a memory long gone and long lost to everyone who he had previously known, and the mere thought drove the seventeen year old 'Shooting Star' into her own personal madness.

It drove her to madness that she was now 'born an only child'—that her parents couldn't remember this twin that Mabel talked about and passed Dipper Pines off as an imaginary friend. It drove her to madness that Grunkle Stan didn't remember the boy that he had held such a secretive affection for, a secretive effort to 'man him up'. It drove her to madness that Soos couldn't remember the boy he had constantly messed around with, that Wendy couldn't remember the boy that had so awkwardly confessed to her, that no one in town could remember when 'Dipper and Mabel' stopped Lil' Gideon from his horrible deeds—only Mabel had revealed the truth to them in their minds.

Only she knew that Dipper had existed.

And only she knew why he was gone, and why.

…And how she was partly responsible.

Mabel knew she had done what she had done—interfering with Bill's harassment of her brother—in order to stop Bill Cipher from hurting people. Specifically, from hurting her twin. In no way had she expected him to turn his attack onto her. Certainly she had not expected the dream demon to play with the loopholes of Dipper's loose contract with him, and possess her body. Never had she expected to be a hostage, under threat of death, in order to get her poor brother to follow Bill to the mindscape.

It haunted her.

She wouldn't let it show, though. Slowly she learned that as she grew, it wasn't as charming to have this imaginary friend that she claimed to be her twin brother. Mabel Pines maintained a lot of her childish behavior as a teenager, like crazy sweaters and weird artistry and girly obsessions with stupidly manufactured bands, but people seemed to think that imaginary friends (no matter how real they were or had been) was a little too far into the crazy zone. So she quickly learned to smile and try to pretend that everyone was right, and they were no 'Pines twins'—only the Mabel Pines.

It never left her, though, floating above her own possessed body and her twin brother's frightened body as Bill Cipher used her to trick him. Nor did it ever leave her, hearing Bill Cipher's words come out of her mouth as she watched him touch her brother so inappropriately. Those terrible, manipulative words…

"I always win what I want in the long run, Pine Tree…" She whispered as she sat at a little pizza joint surrounded by her equally gaudy friends. Only one girl heard her, and simply sent her a confused look. Used to Mabel's odd phrases, though, she paid it no mind. "…and it was most certainly you that I wanted."

"I love you the most, Pine Tree."

Mabel clutched her legs tight to her chest, burying her face in her knees and hoping that none of her friends noticed as she wept over her sibling…the sibling that never existed.

END


End file.
